Holiday Musings #1

Holiday Musings #1

With a few weeks respite from work, I though it high time that I actually do something on this here Blog of mine. So, what subject should I cast my keyboard to this time. After much deliberation, I couldn’t think of anything special. Instead, I’m going to try something out. I’ve often wondered what would happen if I just typed, not thinking about anything in particular, just putting down what comes into my head when it comes to Bart Sears. So here goes nothing.

When I think of Bart Sears, I have very mixed emotions. It is mostly fondness that I feel, but there is a fair portion of concern and regret mixed in. As far as the fondness goes, I reminisce about my visits to Bart’s home, the acceptance into his life and the joy of watching him go about his work. I also think of the Ominous Press days, when I had vivid dreams of meeting Bart, and him showering me with OP material. I think of the times when we were out to dinner, talking about OP characters, some known to everybody, some to just a few. We would create scenes involving characters, acting out the roles ourselves, working though character plots and trying to put all of the pieces of puzzle together. Sometimes we would just talk about life, what we wanted, what we liked, how we could have done better. Those were moments that mattered; our friendship was formed there. And while we don’t talk as often as either of us would like, and only via email, there is that bond there, formed from friendship and similar interests.
Despite our similar interests though, Bart and I are very different. Bart once told me that he was never really a fan of anything, sure, he has his likes, but he felt he never had it in him to really be a fan. I, on the other hand, probably go too far in my fanaticism. Bart also has said that he doesn’t really like to draw. He can see that he has talent, but almost grudgingly accepts it and uses it. I can draw too, pretty well when I’m drawing what I want to draw, but I see that talent as a reason to relax, that surely with that talent, things will come my way, resting on my laurels, essentially.
But I think it is our love of the same story style that really ties us together, we both love a plot that has massive, core-shaking twists dropped in along the way. Bart is in expert at this, to the point where I still shudder when I think about the twist in one of his unpublished stories. Bart also came up with a twist in a characters origin the last time I was staying with him that had me almost hyperventilating with excitement and awe. I write a lot too, but I bow to his superiority humbly, willingly and thankfully.

I have regrets when I think of Bart, for what might (and probably should) have been. The guy can draw comic art the best in the world in my opinion. He is widely adaptable; he has a knowledge of anatomy second to none, can draw everything believably and has a cool core style. He is the greatest writer I have ever read (and I’ve read a lot, having worked in bookstores for 10 years), he can write incredibly stories that ooze originality and spark. He is also adaptable with his stories, having written stories on a wide variety of sub-genres within the science-fiction/fantasy realm, any stories of which deserve their place alongside the greats such as Tolkien, Kay, Jordan, Gemmell and Goodkind.
Bart is also proficient in his knowledge of the film industry, his first love. He is a filmmaker at heart, which shows in both his art and stories. He has a visual style that is both accessible and attractive.
So, my regret is somewhat diluted with a thankfulness for what he has given us. I regret that we have, as yet, not been able to go to the cinemas to see Bart Sears’ latest epic. I regret that I can’t go to the local bookshop and buy Bart Sears’ hot new novel. But I am thankful that he has provided us with over 200 fantastic comics to both read and look at, not to mention all of the other comic related paraphernalia. Would I prefer to have a backlog of Bart Sears movies, or Bart Sears novels, rather than all of the comic work he has done? I don’t know. I guess, ideally, I would like to see him maintain all three fields. To have a new movie out every couple of years, a book every other year, and the odd comic graphic novel too. That seems fair doesn’t it?
I would dearly love to see a Bart Sears movie, and I know he would dearly love to make one, but I think I’d rather see him do graphic novels and novels with illustrations. A lot of the regret I feel when I think of Bart comes from the OP days and what ultimately lead to its closure. Knowing what I know of what was to happen, it saddens me that these further tales may never go past the written form. I love OP, I think it is Bart’s single greatest achievement professionally to date, and I really can’t see it being surpassed by anything other than more OP. It was his world, his characters, and his art. Everything else pales in comparison, because they are tainted by somebody else’s hand. No disrespect to the other artists or writers or anybody else he has worked with. But as the motto says, ‘Bart Sears is Ominous Press.’

I must admit that I feel concern for Bart often too. Let’s face it, the plum jobs in comicdom aren’t exactly banging down his front door, though I’ll never understand why. Sure, he’ll be the first to admit that he has burned a few bridges in his career, but jeez, given the right project and the right amount of lead in time, he could smoke any other artist, without a shadow of a doubt. So, yep, I worry. The way things are going, Bart won’t be in comics for much longer, due to a need to put food on the table, which is just a goddamn shame. And an absolute travesty if you ask me. Sure, Bart has made some mistakes, but he’s a bankable commodity, given the right opportunity.

It is very difficult to envision where Bart will be in five years time, its tough to see just one year from now. I sincerely hope he is still in comics, but I believe it will take something drastic for that to happen, which I’m holding out for. Bart is currently at Dark Horse Comics, which has its redeeming titles that Bart would be great on, none more so than Conan, who Bart is still yet to have a solid go at. But I don’t think his future lies at DH, or Marvel or DC for that matter. I think Bart is treading water at the moment, and probably will do so for the rest of the year. I think two things might happen at the end of the year.
1) Some comic company will come along and throw Bart a rope, or
2) Bart will decide he’s had enough of comics and get out of the metaphoric pool.

I wish I could do more for the guy, I really do. I’ve often dreamt of winning the lottery, setting up a comic and book company just for Bart to publish his OP stuff, and fund the odd movie. That is my dream. You see companies like that come and go, Crossgen instantly comes to mind, but they never really work out. I think a lot of that has to do with the talent on board, and what they produce. There have been scores of companies pop up with comics that are just deplorably bad, with terrible art being the most evident, but that is something you definitely wouldn’t have to worry about with Bart. So I think that the return of OP is not impossible, and not necessarily a bad move, given enough funding. Bart really just needs a good six months to a year to get a good head start, financially secure and all of that, to come up with a package he is happy with. What form it would take, I don’t know. I’d like to see Bart work on just graphic novels, to not bother with a cliffhanger every 22 pages, and get a good story flow going. Can you imagine picking up a 120-odd page graphic novel with Arkon at the helm? That would be incredible. Even a quarterly 32 page comic would suffice for me.

Oh, to dream, to dream… I’ll keep buying those lottery tickets, just in case, though.

In the meantime, I’ll be content to pick up anything that Bart does, hoping for the day when Bart rises to the high ranks of comic artists again, I know he’s got it in him.

And the winning lottery numbers are….